Environmental sustainability is simply about a conscientious approach to our daily lives to ensure the environment that we inhabit retains its natural state of health for the long term. Raising our level of consciousness about our daily approach ? in and out of work ? requires the right source of knowledge, one that is credible, simple to digest and timely. 

When science is involved it is inevitable that differing opinions exist. There is still a minority of the population that firmly believes the earth is flat. This however doesn't make that belief any more factual or true, especially for those in the majority. Add commercial interests and the picture can become even less clear. In decades past, smoking was often represented as being a healthy pursuit, and doctors were used to recommending cigarettes for healthy living. We know how this turned out. Misrepresenting the facts had grave consequences.

Independent. Credible. Timely. These are the hallmarks of the content at Finance Unlocked. We take the sustainability of our planet's environment seriously and are committed to having the leading experts as our source of content.

Finance plays a central role in the sustainability discussion. I saw this first-hand when I spent the better part of two years wrangling with regulators, lawyers, banks and equity investors to launch one of the largest operating solar farms in the Asia Pacific region. At the heart of the challenge were outdated processes and deficient knowledge. The sustainability lens transcends all areas of finance. Nothing is untouched. All finance and advisory professionals need to upskill on sustainability topics challenging the world, in order that achieving sustainable outcomes is straight forward.

Collectively, we need to unclog the earth's arteries and resuscitate its vital organs.

You can contact the author of this blog, Prasad Gollakota, by emailing prasad.gollakota@financeunlocked.com

The Finance Unlocked ESG learning pathway begins with the video below where Simon Thompson, CEO of The Chartered Banker Institute and co-author of "Principles & Practice of Green and Sustainable Finance" provides an overview of the three main goals set out by the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the critical role finance can play in achieving these goals:

Sustainability is a priority for UK Finance and as part of this we understand the need for firms to appraise the training and development support that many of their employees across the business will need. As a contribution to this, UK Finance is pleased to partner with Finance Unlocked to offer their ESG Learning Pathway, but also with the Chartered Banker Institute in distributing their Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance.